


The Witching Hour

by bigbadbatswife



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Metahuman Reader (DCU), Paranormal, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:14:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27108553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigbadbatswife/pseuds/bigbadbatswife
Summary: When her friends dragged her to Gotham’s old cemetery for some Halloween ghost hunting fun, Y/N really didn’t think her life would end up changing like this.
Relationships: Batman/Reader, Bruce Wayne/Reader
Comments: 6
Kudos: 44





	1. All Hallows' Eve

The cell phone on your nightstand buzzed incessantly as your friends continued to spam your messages. They had been doing so for the past hour or so. You were surprised that the damn thing hadn’t vibrated off of the nightstand yet. When it finally stopped, when you finally thought they had given up, you returned your attention to the document you had open on your laptop. Just as you were about to start typing again, your phone resumed its buzzing. 

Huffing, you shut your laptop’s lid, placed it on the bed next to you, reached over and grabbed your phone off the nightstand. Over eighty messages both from your friends individually and within the group chat, begging you to come along with them to the old cemetery that sat outside of town. They wanted to go because it was Halloween and that meant it was the best time to go ghost hunting! And they wanted you to go along because of how you were usually drawn to this type of stuff. As well as how this type of stuff was also usually drawn to you. 

_ Come on! For old time’s sake? Plus we’re going to have a much better chance at actually catching something if you come along!  _

The message was from your friend John, the ringleader of your group. The reason you and your friends had always gotten into trouble at school. Now he was trying to work his magic once again.

_ Only because I’m a meta with an uncomfortably close relationship with death…  _

As far as you knew, your powers were genetic instead of being caused by that arc reactor explosion that had given a lot of metas their powers. You were able to look past the “Veil”, as it was called, and see and interact with spirits on the other side. Not that you did so often or even liked to do. It creeped you out and you sometimes saw things that would certainly traumatize most people if they saw them. Not to mention the strain on your body and mind each time you did it. 

_ Why the obsession with the old cemetery now?  _

It had been years since John had mentioned ghost hunting, let alone the old cemetery. Back during your last year of high school, it had been all John could talk about. He was convinced that it was where the “cool” ghosts would be hanging out. None of you had ever actually gone because your last year had passed surprisingly quickly and before you all knew it, you were all moving to different parts of the country for college. In all that time it had never been mentioned again. Until now.

_ Ha! She finally replies! I knew you wouldn’t leave us to scream into the void forever!  _

The next message was from Tom, your oldest friend. Unlike the others, you two had known each other since kindergarten. If anyone was capable of talking you into going, it was probably him. 

_ It’s been years since all of us were in the same place at the same time! Not to mention it’s Halloween  _ and _ a full moon! I don’t think it could be more perfect!  _

Well, he wasn’t wrong about  _ that. _

_ You know you want to come! And don’t you dare lie!  _

He wasn’t wrong about that either. You were a little curious. The cemetery was on the outskirts of Gotham City. According to the internet, the cemetery had members of Gotham’s oldest families buried there. If you were to use your powers there to look past the Veil, there was a chance some of those people could still be hanging around. It would certainly be an unique opportunity to converse with them and, perhaps, attempt to help move on. Or maybe you would find inspiration for your next short ghost story. You certainly had been struggling with inspiration recently so maybe this was exactly what you needed. 

_ Okay! Fine! I’ll come!  _

You scoffed as you hit ‘send’. Once again, Tom had talked you into joining them. A small part of you was convinced he was a meta with some sort of manipulation power. 

_ That’s great! ‘Cause we’re already outside your house!  _

John replied, causing you to roll your eyes.  _ Of course  _ they were already outside. Why wouldn’t they be? 

You locked your phone, got up from your bed and slipped your phone into your pocket. You grabbed your jacket from your wardrobe and made your way out of your bedroom and down the stairs. You grabbed your keys from the bowl on the table, near the front door. 

“Y/N? Where are you going at this hour sweetheart?” your grandma called from the living room. 

“I’m going to meet up with some old friends. I’ll be back soon!” you replied. You didn’t tell her where you guys were going since you knew she would most definitely disapprove.

“Stay safe!” 

“Will do!” 

After your parents’ death, your grandma had not only raised you, but helped you learn how to use your abilities so that, should you choose to, you’d be able to use them. Not that she would approve of you constantly using them. Looking through the Veil could sometimes draw the attention of extremely unwanted creatures that were looking for a route to the physical world. You knew how to defend yourself from them, but that didn’t mean you really wanted to get into that situation to begin with. If you were going to use your abilities tonight, you were going to have to be extremely careful. 

The entire drive there, your friends excitedly talked about what they could potentially capture on either video or audio. John was driving, Tom sat in the passenger seat next to him and you were sitting in the back with Rebecca.

A couple of hours later and the car finally pulled up in front of the cemetery. John turned off the engine and you all got out. Since it was pretty much pitch black out here, you all got out your phones and turned on your flashlights. 

Tall stone walls covered in moss and vines surrounded the cemetery and an old rusted iron gate stopped the car from going any further. Threaded through the bars of the gate was large rusted chain with an equally rusted padlock. Even if you guys had the key, you seriously doubted it would have worked anyway. 

“Are you kidding me?” asked Tom, as he useless pulled against the chain. “This is so unfair!” 

“Uh, maybe we could try to scale the walls or something?” Rebecca suggested as she walked over to where the vines seemed at their thickest. She gave them a gentle tug. “Looks like it might hold our weight, if we go up one by one.” 

Tom shook his head. “And get covered in spiders? Yeah, no thanks!” 

Rebecca frowned as she used her phone’s light to have a closer look at the vines. “I can’t see any spiders.” 

“That’s because you’re not looking in the right spots,” he replied as he walked over to her. He shone his own light up at the vines. 

While you walked over to them, to get a better look at what Tom was trying to show her, John shook his head and walked back toward the car. 

“See all of those tiny turquoise dots shinning back at us?” he asked her as he pointed above where there were  _ a lot  _ of tiny turquoise dots sparkling in the light. 

“Yeah, they’re like little drops of moisture right?” 

“You would think, but they’re not! Those are the eyes of all those horrid little spiders!” 

Rebecca squealed and immediately backed away from the wall. “Tom! Why the fuck would you tell me that! Fuck! There’s probably going to be so many of them inside the actual cemetery! And now I know how to spot them!” 

“I don’t think that’s going to be much of an issue considering we can’t get in anyway,” you said as you gestured toward the very locked gate. This whole thing was starting to feel like a massive waste of time.

“Oh! But we can!” John announced as he strode on over to you three with a large pair of bolt cutters in hand. He also had a backpack slung over his shoulder. As he cut the chain, John explained how he had swung by here earlier to see if there was anything that would stop you lot from getting in. When he saw the chain, he had gone to the hardware store, that was located in the worst part of the city, and bought these. “Only place I could find that had bolt cutters big enough for a chain like this!”

“Aren’t we like breaking the law or something right now?” Rebecca asked just as the cutters snipped through the chain and it clanged against the gate.

“Probably,” John replied very nonchalantly. “But we’re pretty much committed at this point now. Besides, look at this place! No one’s been here in years! I seriously doubt we’re going to get caught.” 

The iron gate creaked loudly as it was pushed open and you all headed inside. The others walked ahead while you trailed behind. The way they were talking, discussing who was buried here and therefor who they could potentially “contact”, made you feel like you had time-travelled back to high school.

When you all got to the centre of the cemetery, John took the backpack off and opened it. It was filled with all sorts of equipment that was used in modern day ghost hunting. Voice recorders, emf meters, even a couple of high end night vision cameras. Damn, he had really gone all out for this. After the gear had been handed out, John began to give everyone directions as to where they were off to investigate. 

Tom and Rebecca were going to be investigating the southwest of the cemetery, which was the newest part, John was headed up to the north, where some mausoleums were shaded by an old willow tree and you:

“And Y/N, you get the oldest part of the cemetery which is toward the east!” 

“Right, of course, send the meta to the creepiest part of this place,” you said, playfully rolling your eyes. 

“Well, you said it, not me! Good luck and we’ll meet back here in a couple of hours,” John replied. With that, you all split up and went your separate ways.

The cemetery was vastly overgrown. Most of the headstones were buried beneath the long unruly grass, brambles and vines. Every now and then your flashlight would catch a glimpse of the grey stone underneath. You also caught more glimpses of those glowing spider eyes and were doing your best to ignore them. You really hated Tom sometimes. 

Thanks to all of the plants, you could barely see the path. The only thing that indicated you were walking on one was every now and then you could feel a stone slab shift underneath your feet.

The further east you walked, the darker and darker the cemetery seemed to get. It also seemed to get creepier and creepier, which was strange to you because you never really found cemeteries creepy. Instead you had always found them peaceful. A lot of people found you weird for that. There was also the feeling that something was watching you. The uneasiness that came along with that feeling was enough to prevent you from using either your recorder or your abilities. If there really was something watching you, you got the feeling that the last thing you wanted to do was attract its attention. After all, who knew what truly lurked here? Especially on the other side.

You eventually reached a group of mausoleums. Much like the rest of the cemetery, they were covered in bramble, vines and other plantlife. They were tall and the parts of them you could see, you could tell were certainly made of far more expensive stone than the rest of the place. This wasn’t just the oldest part, this was also the richest part.

You approached a few of the mausoleums and managed to clear away some of the plants covering the name plates. The majority of the names had been erased due to the elements, but not all of them. The names that were still readable were also names you recognised. Kane, Elliot, Crowne. Three of the First Families of Gotham.

You were about to approach another when you saw something large and black move, out of the corner of your eye. You spun around and shone your flashlight in the direction of the shadow, but there was nothing there. 

“Hello?” you called out, which was probably a terrible idea, but it was the only thing you could think of doing. “Who’s there?” You waited for a reply, but no reply came.

Was your nerves making you see things? It couldn’t be a spirit; you weren’t using your powers. Unless… Throughout your life you had heard of non metas who had “seen” things in their peripheral vision. Sometimes they were spirits that had briefly broken through the Veil, other times it really was just people imagining things. Until now you had never experienced it before and you hated how impossible it was to tell which one it was. 

Turning on your phone’s screen, you looked at the time. You still had an hour before you had to head back to meet back up with the others. Turning the screen off again, you looked back in the direction you had seen the shadow move toward. Did you follow? It sounded like an awful idea, but the only other thing you could do was head back early and then wait around for everyone else, and that sounded incredibly boring.

‘ _ Okay, guess I’m doing this then,’  _ you thought as you began to head down the path, in the direction the shadow had gone. 

You had previously thought that there was no way this cemetery could be anymore overgrown than it already was. This new part you were now walking through proved you wrong. Extremely wrong. 

Branches hanging low off of trees and thorns from the brambles tugged at your clothing as you passed them. You had to keep an extra careful eye out on where you were stepping so that you didn’t trip over and injure yourself. There were more mausoleums, but you could barely make their shapes out through all of the greenery.

As you walked, that feeling that something was watching you increased tenfold and you found yourself constantly glancing back. Each time you looked you were met with the same result. There was nothing there.

‘ _ It’s just my overactive imagination _ ,’ you told yourself, but that did nothing to soothe your growing fear. What if the thing you had seen had been an actual person? And not a good person at that. This was Gotham after all and for some reason Halloween was when most, if not all, the psychopaths suddenly came out to play. Were you about to become another notch in some serial killer’s knife hilt? Oh, you really hoped not. That was not how you wanted to go.

Before your mind could lead you down a dark path of all the vivid ways you could be brutally murdered right now, the path came to an end. At the end of it sat a lone mausoleum. This one didn’t look nearly as old as the others nor was it as covered in plants like the rest. As you walked over to it you saw one of the large iron doors had fallen off its hinges and now laid on the ground.

Cautiously, you approached the entrance. When you were close enough, you shone your light on the name plate. The name ‘Wayne’ was engraved on to it. You got a feeling that that was somehow important, but you really didn’t know why. Nor why you were so drawn to it. Almost as if you were now on autopilot, you stepped inside the mausoleum. 

The first two names you saw were Martha and Thomas Wayne. Even years after their deaths, you knew the names well. Before their untimely deaths they had been trying to use their fortune to help the city and its more vulnerable citizens.

The next name you saw, you didn’t recognise. Jason Peter Todd. You were shocked when you saw his death date. “Fuck, you were barely sixteen years old,” you whispered. That was... that was not fair at all.

The last name was Bruce Wayne. It stood out to you a lot more than the others had. Almost as if it was…. Glowing? What? That made no sense. Okay, you were definitely just seeing things now. To prove that to yourself, you turned your flashlight off. The name continued to glow, in fact now it was a hell of a lot brighter. 

“What the fuck?” 

You peered closer to see if there was any small lights or something similar causing it to glow, but there wasn’t anything. The name was actually glowing! Freaked out, you took a picture of it (without the flash of course), and sent it to Tom. A few agonising minutes passed before he finally replied. 

_ Why are you sending me a completely black photo?  _

What? You checked the picture you had sent and, yeah, the name was definitely visible.

_ Can’t you see the glowing name?  _

If Tom couldn’t see it, then what did that mean?

_ What are you on about? There’s nothing there. Are you okay?  _

Was this somehow related to your powers? Is that why Tom wasn’t able to see it? If that was the case, and with each passing second it seemed to be, then he or the others couldn’t help. 

_ Yeah, I’m fine. Nevermind.  _

Sighing, you checked the time before you shut off you phone and slipped it into your pocket. Thirty minutes before you had to head back. You were on your own. If this was related to your powers then what exactly did you do with it? Your grandma had never mentioned anything like this before, so you had no clue. You still felt uneasy and this new discovery had done nothing to help so you really didn’t want to peer through the Veil, unless it was absolutely necessary. 

Would anything happen if you reached out and touched it? You sometimes got flashes of memories or feelings when you touched some items. Maybe this could be the same? You supposed the only way to find out would be to touch the stone. Cautiously you reached out and pressed the palm of your hand against the cold stone. 

Images flashed through your mind. Movie tickets, a pearl necklace, a gun. There was the sound of the gun firing, a child’s blood chilling scream and the loud wailing of police sirens. Then it was over and you were brought back to reality, with far more questions than you had previously started with. 

Before you were able to question or make sense of what you had seen, your phone vibrated. Taking it out, you saw a text from John, as well as several others. 

_ Are you nearly here?  _

_ We were supposed to meet up fifteen minutes ago. Where are you?  _

_ Did your phone die?  _

_ It did, didn’t it. Unless you’re currently doing one of your meta things? _

So what had simply been mere seconds for you in reality had been forty five minutes for everyone else. Which wasn’t all that unusual for you, but could certainly make people that didn’t deal with it daily worry. With that in mind, you fingers flew across your keyboard as you typed out your reply. 

_ Yeah, meta thing, sorry. I’m on my way back now. _

You turned your flashlight back on and walked back to the entrance. Before leaving, you looked back to where the glowing of Bruce Wayne’s name was now slowly fading away. Whoever he had been, he was asking for your help. You were sure of it and that’s exactly what you were going to do.


	2. Through The Veil

It had been several hours now since you had returned home from the old cemetery. After you had caught up with the others at the centre, they had of course had a lot of questions. What were you doing? What did you see? Did you manage to contact anyone interesting? And so on. 

You told John, Tom and Rebecca everything. From the shadow you had seen, to the mausoleum you had found, the glowing name and the vision you’d had when you touched it. None of them were entirely sure what to think about it. Just that they thought, if you really were going to pursue whatever this was, that you should be extremely careful. You, of course, agreed with them. After all, the last thing you wanted to do was to get yourself killed. 

Once you were done with your explanation as to what had happened, you asked them if they had managed to “capture” anything.

“Nah, got unlucky once again. ‘Course maybe that’s because you’re always hogging all the spirits,” John had playfully said with a laugh. After that you then all agreed it was probably best for all of you to go back to your homes. 

So here you were, back home, in your pajamas, back in your bedroom on your bed with your laptop open in front of you. Ever since you had gotten back, you had been doing some rather intense research on Bruce Wayne. When you had first seen his you hadn’t recognised it, but now, after reading several articles who he was. Who he had been to Gotham City before his death.

Bruce Wayne had been the first, and only, child of Thomas and Martha Wayne. He had lost his parents in a mugging and, according to several different accounts you had found, the young boy’s life had quickly spiraled downhill from there. Days before his eighteenth birthday he vanished and didn’t reappear until six years later. 

You couldn’t find anything on what he had done during those six years, not even any speculation. It seemed no one had cared that he had basically fallen off the face of the Earth for six years. No, they only cared that the richest man in Gotham was back. And during the few short months following his return, he quickly became the city’s most infamous playboy. 

The more articles you read, the more you came to the conclusion that he had been one of the biggest assholes around. In fact you managed to find a few old videos on the internet that further cemented that opinion. That was until you stumbled upon an article titled ‘ **The Tragedy of the Flying Graysons** ’.

While the circus had stopped in Gotham, during their act, the rope had snapped and the Graysons had fallen to their deaths. Leaving behind their eight year old son, Richard Grayson. The kid wasn’t left in the foster system for long though, as he was adopted by Bruce Wayne, who had been in the audience, shortly afterward. 

‘ _ Okay, maybe not such an asshole after all _ ,’ you thought.

You soon discovered an article from a few years later when he adopted another boy by the name of Jason Peter Todd. Your eyes widened at the name. It was the other name in the mausoleum. Immediately you opened a new tab and typed the name into your search engine and hit enter.

The first thing to pop up from your search was the article you had just been reading, but there, below it. ‘ **Wayne Mourns Loss of His Son**.’ 

There wasn’t much information on the boy’s death, just that he had passed away and that Bruce Wayne was requesting to be left alone during this difficult time. As you scrolled, you found the rest of the article was just filled with speculation as to what had happened to Jason Todd. 

At the bottom of the page there were links to other articles, including the one you had been originally looking for the first time you had typed ‘Bruce Wayne’ into your search engine. 

‘ **The Death of the Wayne Family.** ’ 

The article was long and went into depth about not only what had happened, but also the police investigation that followed and eventually the sentencing of the man responsible.

After months of not being in the public eye, the playboy had finally shown up to a charity event. Once he had made a huge donation, he’d left the event fairly early and that’s when it happened. On the steps of the hotel he had just exited, he was gunned down. Several shots straight to the chest. According to the autopsy, one of the bullets had hit his heart. There was nothing that could have been done to save him.

At the end of the page there was a small mention of his eldest son, the man that raised him, his cousin and the funeral service that was held for him. Other than that, there was no other mention of the people that would be affected the most by this tragedy. Because it truly was and not just for his family, but also for all of the people his donations helped. A tragedy for the city he was constantly giving back to. Just like his parents’ deaths had been all those years ago. 

Despite all the information that article gave you, you went looking for more, but there wasn’t any. That was the only one. Surely, such a big figure in Gotham being murdered would have far more articles on it than just this one, right? 

It didn’t take you long to figure out why. On the exact same day the world had lost Bruce Wayne, it had also lost the Justice League. There were hundreds upon hundreds of articles and blog posts. The majority of them were carbon copies of each other. Literally just the same information copied and pasted on to different websites over and over again. And they all ended with the same question: Where the Hell was Batman?

The only member of the Justice League that wasn’t massacred by the Injustice League (seriously, couldn’t these guys have tried to be a little original?), was Gotham’s Dark Knight. In fact he hadn’t been seen since that day. Like he had completely dropped off of the face of the Earth. 

Because it was the internet there was more than enough opinions on the hero and the deaths of his teammates. “Complete and utter coward” was the most common opinion. As was “he might not have killed them himself, but he’s still responsible” and “it’s his fault we’re living in this dystopian hellhole”.

You understood where they were coming from, things underneath Lex Luthor’s rule were horrible, but at the same time you couldn’t help, but feel that something else was going on here. 

You opened up the tab about Wayne’s death and put it side by side with the one about the Justice League’s death. You couldn’t explain why, but you got a gut feeling that these were somehow, some way, connected to each other. 

You were about to go full conspiracy theorist and try and figure out why when you were interrupted by a rather long yawn. You glanced at the time. Fucking hell, it was almost 6:00am. You’d been doing this for far longer than you’d realised. 

‘ _ Okay _ ,’ you thought as you shut your laptop’s lid and put it on your nightstand, ‘ _ I’ll figure out how all of this is connected after some sleep _ ,’ 

You woke up around 2pm the next day, which wasn’t much of a surprise considering how late you had stayed up. Fortunately for you it was the weekend and you had absolutely no commitments today! Which also meant, once you’d had something to eat, you had more than enough time to fall even deeper into last night’s rabbit hole.

You got up from your bed and made your way downstairs and to the kitchen. The smell of food cooking hit your nose shortly before you reached the kitchen. Your grandma greeted you with a smile, as you took a seat at the table. 

“I was wondering when you were finally going to get up. Did you have fun last night?” she asked as she continued to go about making lunch.

“Uh yeah, lots of fun! It was nice to catch up with everyone after so long,” you replied. You still didn’t want to tell her about where you had actually gone the previous night or what had happened. Along with her usually disapproval, it would no doubt cause her to worry and maybe she would even try and deter you from researching further. 

After lunch was made, your grandma joined you at the table. As you two ate, you discussed your friends, what they were up to now and the mischief the lot of you used to get up to. Once lunch was over, your grandma informed you that she had a few errands to run and would be back soon. Like the two of you always did before one of you left you told her to be safe. As the front door shut, you made your way back up to your bedroom to continue your research.

A couple hours later and you were in full conspiracy theorist mode. Full conspiracy theorist mode as in you still had absolutely no evidence that proved how Bruce Wayne’s death was connected to the Justice League’s death, even though you were sure they were! There was a very good chance that, somewhere during all of this, you had gone crazy. 

As you were contemplating the state of your sanity, your phone beeped. It was a text from Tom. 

_ Hey! You know that Wayne guy you told us about last night?  _

You rolled your eyes as you typed your reply.

_ Well, duh! Kinda hard to forget about the glowing name! What about him?  _

A few minutes passed before your phone beeped again with Tom’s reply. 

_ Well, when I got home, I was doing a little bit of research last night and turns out he had a mansion that sits just a few miles from where the cemetery is! _

Your eyes widened a little at that new information. During all of your different searches not once had you come across any mention of his mansion. 

_ Seriously?  _

_ Yes! Seriously! According to the article I found the place has been abandoned ever since his death. No one’s been up there for years. Want to check it out? _

Yes, of course you wanted to check it out, but at the same time, if you did, you would be trespassing on private property. If you and Tom went and got caught… Well, you weren’t kids anymore. You wouldn’t be let off with just a slap on the wrist. Getting caught would most certainly end in fines and possible jail time. Then again, the exact same thing could have happened at the cemetery and you still went through with that. Besides, if Bruce Wayne really was hanging about, then this would be the perfect place to contact him. It had been his home after all.

_ Yes, but only the two of us. It’ll lessen the chances of us potentially getting caught. _

You hoped. Really though, what was it about Tom that always had you going to places you most definitely should be avoiding! 

_ Understood! I’ll pick you up around 7pm? _

_ Yeah, sounds good. _

You turned off your phone’s screen and set it down next to you. Right, you had a couple of hours to get everything you were going to need for tonight ready.

Several hours later and Tom’s car was pulling up in front of Wayne Manor. The sun had set an hour or so ago. The car’s headlights lit the manor up. 

The old gothic manor towered above you and Tom. Most of the windows were boarded up and plants covered the walls. Tom was right, it didn’t look like anyone had been here in a very long time. 

He brought the car to a stop and turned the engine off, returning the manor and surrounding area back to darkness. Tom was out of the car first, with you shortly following. Just before you shut the car door, Tom asked you to grab the backpack he’d brought along. 

You couldn’t take your eyes off of the manor. It was far bigger than it had appeared in the pictures. Oh, this was probably going to take forever. 

“Whoa! Y/N, did you see that?” Tom exclaimed. 

“See what?” You asked as you walked over to him. He had his eyes focused on the second floor. He pointed to one of the windows that didn’t have any boards on it.

“Up there!” he replied. “I thought I saw someone!”

You shook your head. “No, I didn’t see anything.” 

“Really? Well, let’s just hope whatever I did see is that Wayne guy and  _ not  _ some sort of creepy serial killer or something,” he laughed. 

“Great, thanks for that Tom! Now I’m going to be worried the entire time we’re here that someone’s going to come out of the dark and brutally murder us!” 

Tom rolled his eyes at your comment. The smile on your face and the playful glint in your eyes told him you were fucking with him. 

“Alright, come on. Let’s see if we can get inside.” 

As you probably should have been expecting, the front doors were locked. And you couldn’t get in through any of the windows because of the boards. After a quick discussion between the two of you, you decided to make your way around to the back of the manor, where the gardens would be. The hope was that you could get in through the back doors. 

So that neither of you had to risk your phones’ batteries’ dying, Tom had brought along a couple of actual flashlights to light your way. 

The grounds of the manor were extremely overgrown. Every now and then you caught a glimpse of those tiny turquoise dots in the long grasses and out of control bushes. Oh, you really hated Tom for sharing his knowledge on what those actually were. Ignorance truly was bliss and boy were you missing it.

You walked in silence. Every now and then you shone your flashlight on the manor to see if you could see anything, but so far you’d seen nothing. Maybe it was time that you started to use your abilities. Shortly after that thought had gone through your head, you decided to start to slowly open yourself up to the Veil.

After what seemed like forever, you and Tom finally reached the back of the manor. You had to walk up some old and broken stone steps before you reached the back doors.

The doors here weren’t like the ones at the front. The front doors were solid looking, probably made of oak. Meanwhile these ones looked to be glass and, like the windows, were boarded.

“Oh, come on!” Tom groaned. 

You sighed. As annoying as this was, you should have expected this. Abandoned or not, before they left it behind, Bruce’s family wouldn’t want anyone snooping around the the old place. So they’d do they their best to make sure no one could get in or, at least, they’d get bored before being able to get in. Of course, if somebody  _ did _ get in was there an alarm to alert someone? An alarm that Tom was so totally going to activate! 

“What the fuck are you doing?” you hissed as he pulled against one of the boards across the doors. 

“What does it look like? We didn’t come all this way to turn around just because a door has a few planks on it!” Tom replied as he continued to pull on the board. “Besides, most of these look rotten, shouldn’t be too hard.” 

“And if you set off some sort of alarm by doing that?” as much as you wanted to find out what Bruce Wayne’s spirit wanted, you really didn’t fancy getting thrown into jail for it! 

Tom chuckled. “I seriously doubt this place has any electricity anymore. Besides, on the off chance that it does… Well, this guy was rich right? So if there is an alarm, we’ve probably already triggered it. And before you say anything, Y/N, I seriously doubt we have!” 

“Fine, but if the cops show up and we get thrown behind bars…” 

“You get to say “I told you so”.” 

A few minutes later and the boards laid on the ground and the doors to the manor were open. 

The doors opened up into what looked like a ballroom. You imagined, back in the day when it was still in use, this place must have looked quite spectacular. Especially when it was dressed to the nines for some party that was being thrown. 

The hardwood floor creaked slightly as you and Tom left the ballroom and ventured further inside. All of the furniture that had been left behind (which seemed to be, more or less, all of it), was covered in white dust covers. As you walked, that same feeling from the cemetery, of someone watching you, was back. You glanced behind every now and then, but didn’t see anything.

Focusing your mind, you tried to reach out to whatever was there, down the hallway from where you had just come from, but there was nothing there. Which made no sense unless Tom’s serial killer theory had some truth… You quickly shook that thought from your head. There were no serial killers out here. 

The more you explored, the more you and Tom realised that Wayne Manor was far bigger than it had appeared and was practically a maze. Eventually though, you reached the entrance hall. On one of the walls was a large portrait of a man, a woman and a small boy standing in front of them. 

“Who do you think they were?” Tom asked as you two stopped in front of it and shone your flashlights up at it. 

“If I had to guess, I’d say that’s Thomas and Martha Wayne with their son, Bruce,” you replied. There was a gold plague covered in dust attached to the frame. You gentle brushed the dust off and the words engraved only confirmed what you had just said.

“What do you think? Should we start here?”

You nodded. “As good a starting place as any.” 

Tom took the backpack off, unzipped it and took out a couple of devices. You recognised the emf meter from your guys’ highschool days, but the other one you didn’t. It kind of looked like a walkie talkie, but not quite. You asked him about it.

“Oh, this? The website called it a “spirit box”. Supposedly let’s spirit communicate. Though I am realising that it’s basically redundant since you’re here,” he said. “Speaking of which, you pick anything up yet?” 

“I thought I was and tried to reach out, but apparently there was nothing there,” you shrugged. “Kind of weird, to be honest.”

“If you say so. I mean, I wouldn’t know since I’m not a metahuman. Are you okay to continue?” 

“Yeah, I’m fine to continue. Hell, who knows, maybe that thing will have better luck,” you laughed. 

“Guess we won’t know until we give it a go.” 

After Tom zipped up the backpack and slung over his shoulder, he turned the “spirit box” on. The sound of white noise came through the speaker on the device. You asked if it was supposed to do that and he just shrugged and said “I guess”, which was  _ very  _ helpful. 

An hour or so passed with you and Tom walking through the entrance hall and the conjoining rooms, asking questions as you went. The entire time no “voice” ever came through nor did the emf meter make a single sound. Eventually you two decided to split up so that you could cover more ground. After all, the manor was massive.

Before splitting up, you gave the emf meter back to Tom. with your powers you weren’t going to need it. 

You soon found yourself in what looked to be a rather large study. At least, that’s what you guessed based on the shapes of the furniture underneath the covers. There was something about this room that had drawn you towards it. Despite having never been to this place before, as you had walked the hallways toward this study, it had felt like you had done it a hundred times before. Knowing your way perfectly. Perhaps this was Bruce Wayne’s way of reaching out? 

“Bruce Wayne?” you called out. Even with your powers and what you knew, you always felt weird doing this. You waited for a few minutes for something to happen, but nothing did. Were you wrong about the name? About the vision you saw? It didn’t feel like it, but maybe? 

You were almost out of the door of the study, ready to search some of the other rooms, when you heard something hit the floor with a gentle thud. You spun around and noticed that one of the dust covers was now on the floor, revealing a beautiful antique grandfather clock. 

Much like the room itself, you felt drawn toward the clock. You shone your light up at the clock’s face. The time was set on 10:47pm, which seemed like a very specific time to you.  _ Very  _ specific. 

As you stood there, thinking, trying to remember if you had seen that time mentioned anywhere in the articles you had read, you noticed that there was a draft in the room. Which you knew to be impossible since the windows were tightly sealed and boarded. So where was it coming from? 

You searched around the room for the source and quickly discovered that it was coming from the grandfather clock! But… how? You looked around the clock and discovered a gap. A gap? That made no sense. Grabbing the side of the clock, you pulled and found it moved quite easily. 

Moving the clock, revealed a doorway and a staircase that lead down. What the fuck? What exactly had Bruce Wayne been doing? The only way to find out was to head down, you supposed. Taking a deep breath, you began your descent. Hopefully this time curiosity  _ wouldn’t  _ kill the cat. 

At the bottom of the staircase, you discovered something you never would have thought possible. Underneath Wayne Manor was a large cavern. From the staircase a large platform extended out into the cavern. Much like the manor everything down here was covered in dust covers. 

You ventured forth and approached what looked like a table. You grabbed hold of the cover and pulled it off, revealing a table of various devices. 

Laid out on the table were several small metal balls, something that looked like a gun, but had a hook attached to the end of it and something that looked very much like a psp (but you had a good feeling it wasn’t an actual psp). There was one item that stood out from the rest. A bat shaped blade.

_ ‘A bat shaped blade? But that would mean…’  _

You began to remove the other covers, revealing more and more bat themed things. A computer, a car, a motorcycle and the damn suit itself, which was locked inside a display case. 

Now it all made sense as to why Batman hadn’t been with the Justice League that day. He had already died hours beforehand. As you came to this realisation, that feeling of someone watching you came back. It was a hell of a lot stronger now than it had been the last couple of times.

You decided that it was time for you and Bruce Wayne to meet face to face. You sighed before taking a deep breath. Oh, you hated doing this and not only for the things you had seen by doing it, but also the strain on your mind and body. 

You took another deep breath and closed your eyes. In your mind, in front of you, you imagined a thin veil before you. Something similar to what a bride might wear. You imagined yourself reaching out and pushing it open like you would with your curtains in the morning.

“So you  _ are _ a metahuman. I was starting to have my doubts.” A deep and rich voice filled your ears. You opened your eyes and there he was, standing a few feet in front of you. Bruce Wayne. Even here, on the other side, his suit jacket and dress shirt underneath had the bloodstains from where he’d been shot.

“How could you tell?” you asked. You were curious, in the very rare times that you had been sought out by a spirit they all had a different answer for you. 

“I used to be the World’s Greatest Detective. I also worked along side people like you before, well, you know,” he said. “There’s also an… aura about you. I felt drawn to you,” he added after he saw you raise an eyebrow at him, clearly unhappy with his original answer. 

“An aura?” you repeated. “First time I’ve heard that. I’m Y/N, by the way.” 

“Nice to meet you, Y/N. You’ve been contacted before?” 

“A couple of times, here and there. Sort of comes with the territory of being able to see the dead.” 

Bruce nodded in response.

“So why did you contact me?” 

“Out of all my options, which isn’t many, you were certainly the preferred one and… it’d be easier if I just showed you,” Bruce replied. He then lead you out of the cave, back into the manor and through the hallways. 

As you walked, you kept an ear out for Tom. If he was close enough then you would call out for him. Sure, he wouldn’t be able to see Bruce, but you could easily explain. With how long you had known each other, you knew he would believe you. Since you couldn’t hear him however, you reckoned he was probably on the other side of the manor and would have no chance at hearing you if you did call to him. That being said though, you did have your phone. 

You slipped your phone out and turned the screen on, only to discover you had no signal. With that idea going out the window, you returned your phone to your pocket and focused on following Bruce. 

“So who were your other options?” you asked. You couldn’t imagine a spirit had very many options. “And why was I the more preferred one?” Were the options he had in mind really that bad?

“There was only one other, someone I’d worked a couple of cases with. Let’s just say I’d rather not deal with him unless I absolutely have to,” Bruce explained. This distaste for whoever he was talking about was very clear in his voice. 

As he lead you, every now and then the manor would come to life. Either in the form of a light coming from a room that most certainly couldn’t have light coming from it or the sound of laughter or music echoing around the hallways. 

_ “Even when the living don’t remember, the Veil always will.”  _ Your grandma had told you once. Residual memories, she had called it. Something about how certain events happened and “seeped into” the building or ground, destined to be replayed over and over again throughout time. Sometimes they could be heard by the living, but most times it was only those on the other side that got to see or hear them.

Eventually you reached the ballroom you and Tom had entered through the back doors. You followed Bruce through the doors and out into the night. He stopped just before the first step and looked up at the sky. 

“There.” 

You looked up at the sky as well and instead of seeing the usual dark clouds, you saw what could only be described as a tear. A tear in the sky. What the fuck? 


	3. Against The Clock

“What the fuck?” was all you could say as your mind registered the fact that there was indeed a tear in the fucking sky. A tear that certainly hadn’t been there before you and Tom had entered Wayne Manor. You definitely would have noticed it if it had been.

“As far as I can figure out, it has something to do with the Flash. Something happened, something that shouldn’t have happened and he’s been trying to fix it,” Bruce explained.

“The Flash?” you asked as you tore your attention away from the sky and over to Bruce. “I thought he died alongside the rest of the Justice League?”

Bruce shook his head. “I did as well at first, but whilst I found the rest of them, I never found him. Then that appeared and it’s being steadily getting worse.” 

“Why?” 

“Whatever happened that shouldn’t have. Whatever he’s trying to fix that created this timeline, he’s either not finding it in time or he’s doing the wrong thing…” he trailed off and huffed out of frustration. 

“What is it?” 

There was a moment of silence before he continued. His expression became extremely serious and his voice became deeper.

“Each time he fails, he brings this timeline closer and closer to collapsing in on itself. The worst part is, I don’t think he’s even aware of what he’s doing. Or he is aware and he’s doing whatever he can to try and stop it from collapsing, but…” 

“...he’s making it a whole lot worse,” you said, finishing his sentence. Bruce nodded. 

“Indeed.” 

“So what exactly needs to happen to stop the timeline from collapsing?” 

“Considering this timeline shouldn’t even exist, you’d need the Flash to take you back in time hours before this timeline was created. From there you’d need to figure out what happened to create it and stop it.” 

“Makes sense. Got any idea as to what event created this timeline?” 

“Unfortunately no. Once you find him, you’ll need to figure it out together quickly. Very quickly because I don’t think we have much time.” 

And as if on cue, you felt the ground shake slightly and watched as the tear got bigger.

“And now we have even less. Do you know where I can find the Flash?” 

“Central City. His real name is Barry Allen. Your best bet in finding him would be to find his partner first, a reporter by the name of Iris West,” Bruce informed you. As he spoke you had gotten your phone out and opened the notes app so you could type the names down. 

“Right, got it. What should I say to him when I find him?”

“Tell him with you’ve seen. That the timeline is collapsing and the two of you need to work together to stop it. Whatever you do, don’t mention me.” 

“Why not?” 

“The League had no idea who I was and I seriously doubt Barry will believe you if you tell him. In fact, it’ll most likely hinder you than help.”

You nodded. Yeah, okay, that made sense. With the obvious state of everything, a delay would be the end of everything you knew and held dear. Although, now that you thought about it, helping the Flash meant making sure that  _ this  _ timeline could never actually come about. Which basically would be the end of everything you knew and held dear… 

You decided to quickly push that thought away. Right now was not the time for a laying face flat on the ground existential crisis. Maybe later, if there was time. Though you doubted there would be. 

Turning your phone off, you once again slipped it back into your pocket and turned your attention back to Bruce. He no longer looked super serious. Instead, concern filled his blue eyes. 

“You’re bleeding,” he said, gesturing to the top of your lip. You touched the top of your lip with a couple of fingers and examined them. There was blood on them, no doubt coming from your nose. Apparently this was straining you more than you had originally thought it would. 

“Oh, shit, yeah. This happens sometimes when I use my abilities,” you explained as you wiped the blood away with your sleeve. 

“Then you should stop. Good luck with finding Barry and if all goes well, we won’t see each other again.” 

“Yeah, hopefully. Goodbye Bruce.”

“Goodbye Y/N.” 

You closed your eyes and imagined the veil once again. You pictured it falling back into place and when you opened your eyes, Bruce Wayne was gone. As was the tear in the sky.

Right, now you had to go back inside the manor, find Tom and get out of there because you were suddenly on a time limit. Not to mention that there was no do over button if you fucked up by being too slow. 

You quickly made your way back into the manor and began to search the rooms for Tom, calling out his name as you went. You eventually found him in a dining room still asking questions to the spirit box, but far less enthusiastically than he’d been when you two had first arrived. His face lit up though when he saw you enter the room though.

“Y/N! Tell me you’ve got something because I’ve got nothing,” he said.

“Yes, I do, but we’ve gotta go,” you replied. 

“Uh, why?” Tom asked, confusion visible on his face.

“We really don’t have the time to discuss it right here, right now. I’ll explain on the way back to the city, I promise.” 

Tom studied you for a moment before agreeing. He turned off his devices and the two of you made your way out of the manor. Since you couldn’t reattach the boards, you did your best to make sure the doors were secure and shut. 

As promised, once you and Tom were back in the car and on your way back toward the city, you told him about your encounter and what you had learnt. You were careful not to mention anything to do with the cave or either man’s hero identity. You doubted either one of them would appreciate it if you did. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. So let me see if I’ve got this right. The world, as we know it right now, only exists because of an event that shouldn’t have happened and now you’ve got to find some meta to stop it from collapsing in on itself?” Tom asked once you were done explaining. 

“Yes, basically.”

“Okay, so say you find this Barry guy and you do stop everything from collapsing, doesn’t that mean that this, right now, and everything leading up to it, won’t have happened?” 

“I guess so.” And suddenly you were back on the verge of an existential crisis. The thought of everything you knew no longer existing was a terrifying thought, but since that was going to happen either way, it seemed like trying to fix the timeline was the best option. With the knowledge you had, you would feel like absolute shit if you didn’t at least try to stop the collapse. Besides, who knew, maybe the life you were supposed to be leading was great! Not to mention, since everything happening now wouldn’t, surely that meant you would have no memory of it? If you did manage to find him then you would have to ask Barry. 

“And you got all of this from a dead billionaire playboy?”

“Okay, when you say it like that, it sounds bad, but I saw the tear, Tom! And I saw it get bigger. Do you not believe me?” 

“No, it’s not that. It’s just,” he sighed, “It’s a lot to wrap my head around, you know?” 

You nodded. You did know. In truth you were still trying to wrap your head around it yourself. As well as the fact that you were being trusted with all this. It was insane.

On the drive back into the city, the exhaustion from using your powers suddenly hit you like a freight train. After a particularly long yawn and the fact that you were now struggling to keep your eyes open, you and Tom decided it would be best if you just crashed at his place. After all, it was closer and you weren’t entirely sure you would be able to make it up the stairs to your bedroom before passing out. Doing your best to fight through the exhaustion, you sent your grandma a text to let her know, so that she wouldn’t worry. 

Tom rented a small apartment in central Gotham. It wasn’t the fanciest place in the world, but it was certainly better than most places in the city. The front door opened straight into the living room/kitchen and next to where the kitchen was a small hallway. Halfway down the hallway, to the left, was the bathroom and at the very end was the bedroom. 

He tried to get you to take the bed, but, even in your exhausted state, you were insistent. You were the guest, you would take the couch. Defeated, Tom went to get you a pillow and a blanket. As you waited for him to return you hung up your jacket and removed your shoes. After making sure you had everything you needed, you two said goodnight to each other and Tom went to his bedroom, while you got settled on the sofa. You fell asleep pretty much as soon as your head hit the pillow. 

You expected to have a dreamless sleep, as you so often did when you were this tired, but instead you found your dreams plagued by bats, guns and the end of the world. 

When you woke up the next morning, it took you a moment to remember where you were and what had happened the previous night. You had a slight headache, but that came to no surprise to you. 

Grey light filtered into the apartment from the partially opened curtains. Through the window, you could see that Gotham’s sky was covered in a blanket of grey clouds. Another miserable day in Gotham and it would end up being one of the last if you didn’t get a move on. 

Sitting up, you reached for your phone that you’d left on the coffee table. You turned it on and noticed you didn’t have a lot of battery left. Well since Tom was probably still asleep (sure it had just gone past 10am, but he had never been someone to get up before noon), and you didn’t want to wake him for a charger, you decided you were going to have to make the most of what battery life you did have left. So, referring back to your notes app every now and then, you got to work. 

You couldn’t help, but feel very uncomfortable as you tired to figure out where exactly in Central City, Iris West lived. The only thing that helped ease the feeling slightly was that this was for the greater good and you definitely wouldn't be doing so if it wasn’t.

Just as you came across her Instagram page, the front door of the apartment opened and Tom entered. Apparently he hadn’t still been in bed like you had thought. As he shut the door, the smell of food entered the apartment. Your mouth watered at the smell and your stomach growled a little.

“Good morning,” Tom greeted you. He held up the bag. “Since I literally don’t have any food here that isn’t past its expiration date, I thought I’d swing by Bat Burger and pick up some food from their breakfast menu.” 

“Oh! It’s been forever since I last ate from there!” you said as he joined you on the sofa and set the bag on the coffee table. You set your phone down and reached for the bag, discovering that he had gotten your favourite items off of the menu. 

“So what were you doing?” 

“I was,” you picked up your phone and you went to turn it on to show him, but after a couple of tries you realised your battery had finally died, “trying to find out where in Central City Iris West lives, but apparently my phone’s finally died,” you huffed. 

“Right, I’ll be back with a charger and my laptop.” While Tom was gone, you focused on eating your food. A couple of minutes later and he was back. “Are we going to tell John and Rebecca about any of this?” he asked as he booted the laptop up. 

“I don’t know,” you admitted, “I mean, it sounds like a damn conspiracy theory. Who’s to say they’ll even believe us?” You thought back to last night and how Tom had struggled to get his head around. Even now, though he seemed more than willing to help out, you still couldn’t help, but wonder if Tom actually believed you.

Tom nodded in agreement. “True, but this is John and Rebecca we’re talking about. Remember when you thought they wouldn’t believe you about your meta powers? Well, they did! Besides, friends believe friends, especially when you’ve known each other as long as we have! And we’ll find this guy and his girl faster if we have more than me and you searching.” 

It was your turn to nod in agreement. Tom was right. About all of it. So while he turned his phone on to message the group chat, you took the laptop off of him and, doing your best to remember what you had already looked at on your phone, you continued trying to figure out Iris’ location. 

Several hours, two voice chat malfunctions and a copious amount of sugary drinks and junk food (that both you and Tom had been taking turns in fetching from the local convenience store), later and, even with the help of your friends, you were nowhere closer to finding where Iris was. You were slowly starting to wish that a Stalking for Dummies book existed. It would surely make this a lot easier.

The only good thing to have happened during the past several hours was indeed the fact that John and Rebecca had had nothing better to do and had been more than happy to help. In fact you were sure that John’s occasional jokes were the only thing keeping you, and probably the others, sane right now.

Since your phone was back to being fully charged, you were back to scrolling through her Instagram page, zooming in on each picture, hoping that something in the background of them would give you a clue as to where she was. 

You were starting to get to the point where you were starting to think that all of your efforts were completely futile when Rebecca’s voice came through the speakers of the laptop. 

“I think I’ve got something!” she said at the same time a beep sounded from the group chat. You came out of Instagram, selected the group chat app and clicked on the link she had sent.

The link opened up into Google Maps. You found yourself looking at fairly typical suburban neighbourhood. The houses were nice, lawns pristine and they had the cliche white picket fences. You were about to ask what she had meant when you saw them. By one of the houses, getting ready to carry in some boxes from a moving van, was a man and a woman. Thanks to her Instagram, you recognized them. It was Barry Allen and Iris West! You and your friends were finally getting somewhere!

“How long ago was this updated?” you asked. 

“Sometime in the last three years or so,” John replied, “Not the most helpful, I know, but it’s more than we had a few minutes ago.” 

You were about to agree with him when Rebecca spoke up again. 

“I found more than that guys! I also found some documents that say that house is still in their names.”

“Doesn’t necessary mean they’re still living there,” Tom said.

You nodded. “True, but it’s the best lead we’ve got,” you replied. Now you were going to need to buy a plane ticket to Central City. 

As you entered yours and your grandma’s home, so that you could have shower, change of clothes and something proper to eat, it started to finally hit you properly just how insane this whole situation was. You had gone from an, almost, normal Gotham citizen who occasionally wrote in her free time, to working hard to save the world. This was something that happened in movies and video games, not real life! You were very lucky that you had such supportive and understanding friends.

Speaking of your friends, you had planned to go to Central by yourself, but, much like you’d been last night, Tom had been insistent on tagging along. Since he was in between jobs he had more than enough time. Not to mention he wanted to see this out to the end. As much as John and Rebecca wanted to also see it out to the end, they had commitments that they unfortunately couldn’t get out of. Which you, of course, understood. 

After you’d had your shower and packed what you thought you’d need for your trip to Central City, you ventured downstairs to get something to eat. 

As you waited for your food to cook, you looked around the house for your grandma. After fighting with yourself on the matter, you had finally decided that you were going to tell her. The fact that your friends knew and the most important person in your life didn’t. That didn’t sit right with you. 

You searched the house, but you couldn’t find her. You made your way back into kitchen and that was when you saw a yellow post it note that you must have over looked before. Obviously it was from your grandma letting you know that she was going to be out for a little while. You sighed. ‘ _ You could of just texted me _ .’ you thought. Then again she never had been very good with technology.

You had really wanted to tell her in person, but now, you supposed since the flight you’d found was in a few hours, you were just going to have to leave her a note. That really wasn’t how she deserved to find out, but you were on the clock and who knew just how much time you had left.

A few hours and one horrible bumpy plane ride later and you and Tom were in Central City. After you both had grabbed your luggage and headed out of the airport, Tom ordered an uber.

Central was absolutely nothing like Gotham. While Gotham was all dark and menacing, even when the sun was high up in the sky, Central was bright and colourful. You imagined it stayed that way during the night as well. It reminded you of Metropolis, in that aspect. 

“So what do we say when we get there?” Tom asked, his voice low so your driver couldn’t here. It was none of their business after all. 

“More or less what I told you, just can’t mention anything about Bruce,” you replied. 

“Why not?” 

“He said that Barry’s unlikely to believe us if we mention him. It’s better if we just leave his name out of it.” 

Tom nodded. “Okay and since you’re the one he asked to find Barry, I suppose you’ll be doing most of the talking?” 

“Pretty much. You just need to back me up.” 

“Easy enough.” 

Once the uber had pulled up to the house and you two had hoped out, you suddenly felt very, very anxious. What were you going to do if they didn’t believe you? After all, you were complete strangers, they had absolutely no reason to believe you. The fate of everything relied on them beliving you and if they didn’t, everything was... A hand on your shoulder brought you out of your thoughts.

“You okay?” Tom asked.

“Uh, yeah. What are we going to do if they don’t believe us? We need Barry’s help to fix this and if he doesn’t believe us we, and everything else, is pretty much screwed.”

“An understandable worry, but in my honest opinion, there’s no need for it. He’s going to believe you and you’re going to work together to save all of us.” Tom sounded so sure that it was hard not to believe him. Yeah, Barry was going to believe you. He had to believe you.

You walked up the steps to the door, Tom right beside you, and you knocked on the door.

What felt like an eternity passed before you heard movement from behind the door and it opened, revealing Iris.

“Hello. Can I help you?” she asked.

“I sure hope so. We’re looking for Barry Allen.” 


	4. Reset

“Hello. Can I help you?” Iris asked after she had opened the door. 

“I sure hope so,” you replied. “We’re looking for Barry Allen.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t help you,” Iris said immediately before going to shut the door. With a surprisingly burst of confidence flooding your system, you stepped forward and stopped her. 

“Please, Iris. We know he’s been trying to fix the timeline and I have information that can help!”

Iris’ eyes narrowed and she looked between you and Tom. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see him giving her his most earnest look.

“I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true,” Tom said, voicing his support to your claim.

She continued to look at the two of you long and hard for a couple of minutes. Then she stepped aside and let you and Tom inside. After she shut the door and ushered you into the lounge, she asked you to wait a minute before leaving the room.

“So far, so good,” Tom whispered to you. You nodded. Indeed, so far, so good. Now you just had to hope that she was actually getting Barry and wasn’t about to call the cops on you two. 

A few minutes passed and Iris soon came back with Barry following close behind. He had barely entered the room before he was questioning you.

“Who are you? How do you know who I am? How do you know I’ve been trying to fix the timeline?” The questions came at you like you were in a rapid fire round of some gameshow. With the exception of him not giving you any time to actually answer them. He finally stopped when Iris glared at him, giving you a chance to answer him. 

“I’m Y/N-” you gestured to yourself before gesturing over to your friend, “-and this is Tom. I’m a metahuman. I can see and interact with the realm of the dead. I was contacted recently…” 

You told Barry about how you were contacted by a friend of his, told him about what his friend had said, what they’d shown you and how you had witnessed the tear get bigger. The entire time you spoke, he stayed silent and listened. After you were done talking, he was silent for a while. His face remained expressionless so you weren’t sure what he was thinking. Was he going to believe you?

“So, what you’re saying is, by trying to fix everything, I’m making it worse? That’s just my luck, isn’t it?” Barry finally said after what felt like an eternity. He ran a hand through his hair and huffed. Iris reached out to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Was there anything else? Or was that it?” he asked after taking a moment to calm down. 

“Your friend said we should go back together and figure it out.” 

Barry was about to say something when the house began to shake violently. Everything you knew about earthquakes and earthquake safety ended up flying out of your head as you tried to keep your balance. Pictures frames that sat on the mantle fell and smashed as they hit the floor. Shortly followed by a lamp and a vase. Outside you heard the sounds of tires squealing, car horns sounding and what sounded like a massive crash.

Once the shaking had subsided, and you were certain you could move without falling, you, Tom, Barry and Iris swiftly made your way outside. You all were quickly stopped in your tracks, your eyes widening and you all gasped. Right where the road had been, now literally splitting the street in half, was a large fissure. A large fissure that very much reminded you of the tear you’d seen while in the Veil.

“Looks like we’re nearly out of time,” you said once you had gotten over your shock.

“Which means no time to argue. If he wants you to come with me, then I guess you’re coming with me,” Barry replied. “Stay here, I’ll be back in a Flash.” 

And in the time it took you to blink, he was gone. You decided that whilst you waited for him, you would take the time to say goodbye to Tom. 

“This is it huh?” Tom asked as you walked over to him.

“Looks like it. Think we’ll know each other in the new timeline?”

“Haha, you’re kidding right? Of course we will! Nothing, not even a timeline reset, will stop us from being friends!”

“How can you be so sure?” you asked as you pulled him into a hug, which he returned immediately.

“Come on we’ve been as thick as thieves even before we knew each other’s names. Remember?” You nodded. Yes, of course you remembered. How could you forget? “So there can’t be any timeline or universe where we aren’t friends.”

You liked Tom’s optimism and, yeah, maybe there was a little bit of truth to what he was saying. At least, you hoped there was.

You were just done with saying goodbye, you felt a blast of cold air rush by. Barry was back and he was now in his superhero suit. Tom stared at him with wide eyes as the speedster walked over to where Iris was standing. 

“Holy shit. Did you know?” he asked you, while the two of you watched on as Barry and Iris shared some words. Probably a goodbye, as well as a promise to try and fix this mess.

“Yes. I didn’t tell you because it wasn’t really my place, you know?” 

Tom nodded. “Yeah, no, I get that. Really sucks that I’m not going to remember any of this.”

“Tell me about it.” 

After he was done saying goodbye to Iris, Barry walked over to you and Tom.

“Are you ready? I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that this is pretty much a one way trip,” Barry said.

You nodded. “I’m ready,” you replied. 

“Alright.” Barry stepped forward and brought you close to him. “Right, this is going to be a bit bumpy and, fair warning, you’ll probably throw up. Everyone does on their first time.” 

Before you could ask what he was talking about, Barry ran and the world around you quickly blurred past and was soon replaced by a orange and yellow vortex. 

Barry was right. When the two of you exited the vortex and came to a very sudden halt, that made you feel like you had whiplash, you pushed away from him and emptied out the contents of your stomach.

“Sorry about that,” he told you once you were done and had regained your composure. You assured him you were alright and looked around to where he had brought you both. The sky was orange and the sun was beginning to set. You were standing in the middle of an empty parking lot. A parking lot that you only recognised because of how often it appeared on the news due to a crime being committed there. It was on the edge of The Bowery, which meant Barry had put you two in Gotham!

Though, you noted, this past version of Gotham was a lot different to the one you knew. It was still the dark gothic city you were used to, but it seemed brighter, more hopeful. Most definitely the direct result of Gotham’s active superhero. 

“Right, with where I’ve put us, we have twenty four hours or so before the Justice League end up dying,” Barry explained. “Did Batman share anything with you about his whereabouts?”

“I’m sorry, what?” You were certain that you hadn’t mentioned that he was the person who had sent you to Barry, so how was it that he knew? 

“I’ve worked alongside Batman long enough to know that only he would make you be that cryptic. It also fits my theory that something did happen to him right before the Injustice League wiped everyone out. He would never ignore that sort of threat.” 

Okay, that made sense. It also meant that trying to get him to save Bruce without revealing his true identity at the same time was now looking impossible. Your realisation must’ve shown on your face because he then asked.

“Unless you disagree?” 

“Yes, I disagree.” Which was both a lie and the truth. A lie because you did actually agree with him. He was spot on, Batman did indeed die. And it was the truth because Batman wasn’t going to die as Batman, but as Bruce Wayne. And there was no way to tell Barry that without him fully thinking you were crazy. After all, it was a miracle that he had believed you this far.

“Okay then, I’m guessing you have your own theory?”

You nodded and explained to him how you believed it was Bruce. You were careful with your wording, as to not accidentally out Bruce’s true identity. When you were done, he looked at you sceptically for a long time. No doubt his mind moving as fast as he could run as he tried to make sense of what you had said. After a long while he finally spoke.

“I won’t lie, it doesn’t make much sense to me, but since Batman trusted you and it’s the only thing we have to go on, who did you say is going to kill him?” 

“Thomas Elliot.”

With a course of action now decided on, you and Barry made your way toward the GCPD. While he went through the department’s database to find out where Thomas Elliot called home, you had been left in a coffee shop a couple of blocks away.

You were sat at a table outside, watching people go about their day, while you waited for him. None of these people had any idea that their lives could come to a very sudden end, if the two of you failed. Was this what the Justice League felt all of the time? The constant weight of the world on their shoulders? Always knowing that just one mistake could potentially lead to the end of everything? Yeah, this was a feeling you really wouldn’t ever get used to. Though, you supposed, no matter if you failed or succeeded, you wouldn’t ever feel it again anyway. Nor would you ever remember feeling it to begin with. That thought wasn’t the most comforting though. 

Not to mention that there was only a few hours before the shooting took place and the more time that passed, the closer it got to it, you were becoming more and more anxious. 

Just as you were starting to wonder what was taking Barry so long, someone in a hoodie, jeans and hat sat on the other side of the table. 

“Sorry about the sudden change of outfit. Didn’t want to accidentally alert Batman to what we're doing in case that screws the timeline further,” Barry quickly explained before you asked what was up with his change in appearance. 

“What did you find?” you asked.

“Thomas Elliot is a big shot surgeon and was born into Gotham’s High Society. He’s got a couple of places in the richer part of Gotham, but that’s not unusually for someone like him, obviously. What did stand out is that he owns a studio apartment rather close to the hotel,” he informed you.

“What do you think the chances are that he’s there right now?”

“I don’t know, but it shouldn’t hurt to check it out. If we’re lucky, we’ll beat him there and we’ll be able to set up an ambush.” 

When you and Barry got to the apartment, you found it empty. Both of Thomas Elliot and most furniture. The only furniture in the studio apartment was a corkboard covered in candids of Bruce (both from what looked to be public events and private settings), an old school radiator by one of the windows and a table that had a black gun case on it. 

“Looks like a staging area,” Barry said as the two of you had a look around for anything else that he might have stored here. He walked over to the table and opened up the gun case. He was still wearing the gloves of his superhero suit so he didn’t have to worry about leaving behind any fingerprints. “Gun’s still here so he’ll definitely be coming back. We should get ready for when he does.”

After a quick discussion, and a swapping of phone numbers, you agreed that Barry would stay in the apartment while you, as nonchalant as possible, would be at the nearby bus stop, keeping an eye out for Thomas approaching the building’s entrance. And with him being a well renowned surgeon meant that his picture was all over the internet meant you knew exactly what he looked like. Not to mention, living in Gotham, you had gotten pretty good at telling when someone looked shiftier than normal.

As you kept your eyes on your surroundings, you thought of the stark contrast between this version of Gotham and the one you knew. While it certainly looked like Gotham, at the same time, it didn’t. It was brighter, more hopeful, not nearly as depressing. The effect that Batman had, perhaps?

The more time that passed, the more and more you kept checking the time and felt your anxiety begin to rise as you got closer and closer to when Bruce would be killed. Had you and Barry arrived too late? Yes, there was still a gun in the apartment, but what if he had two and had only grabbed one of them? What if this was it? This was how everything came to an end? What if…

That’s when you saw it. A taxi pulled up in front of the apartment building and a tall figure stepped out of it. They wore a long black coat and they were looking around a lot. Definitely more than someone who wasn’t getting ready to commit a crime would. That had to be him. You texted Barry immediately. Now you just had to wait for the “we got him!” text. It felt like an eternity passed before your phone finally alerted you to a new text from Barry letting you know he got him and it was safe to come back up.

Though you knew it was safe, you were still cautious as you re-entered the apartment. Barry was back to being fully dressed in his superhero suit, so you made a mental note to address him as his superhero identity. Especially in front of Thomas Elliot. Speaking of which, he was handcuffed to the radiator and had been blindfolded. Probably to keep your identity safe.

“So what do we do now?” you asked Barry.

“We wait. If we’re right, Bruce Wayne lives and the future we know doesn’t happen and the timeline fixes itself. You probably won’t be aware of that,” he replied. 

“What do you mean “probably”?”

“Well, I’ve had help when fixing timelines before, but they’ve never been with me as it resets, but I should think that the same rules apply though.”

“And if we’re wrong, that’s it right? Game over?” 

“Pretty much, but I don’t think this is wrong. I doubted at first, but this does seem right. Call it a gut feeling.” 

“Will you remember any of this?” 

“Yeah, it’ll wipe your memory, but I’ll remember. And I won’t forget you. If you still have your powers in the correct timeline, we’ll probably end up meeting again at some point,” Barry said.

“I just won’t have any idea.”

“Other than maybe a slight feeling of déjà vu, no, you won’t unfortunately.”

Déjà vu? Is that what that was? A memory from a timeline that you couldn’t remember? That was interesting. You weren’t going to remember it, but it was interesting nonetheless.

You and Barry sat in silence as you waited. During that time Thomas didn’t stir, which you were thankful for. You really didn’t want to have a conversation with a psychopath. Much like you had been doing outside at the bus stop, you kept checking the time. Watching it inch closer and closer to what would have been Bruce’s death. Every minute felt like it was an hour long.

The silence had become deafening and you were about to break it when you looked at the time once more and saw that it was well past the time, but nothing had happened. Had you been wrong? You looked up and were about to ask Barry when there was a flash of blinding white light and then everything for you went completely black.

Bruce Wayne was still standing outside of Wayne Manor, his eyes focused on the tear in the sky. So far he hadn’t observed it change in any way. Whether or not that was a good thing, he was still undecided on.

The thing about being dead was that Bruce found himself with a lot of free time now. And a lot of free time meant a lot of time to think. About his death, how his death came at the hands of his childhood best friend, the death of the other Justice League members, Jason and the tear in the sky.

When he had been in that cemetery that night, he had been looking for Jason again. When he had first died and had, eventually, begrudgingly accepted that there was nothing he could do about it, he had gone to look for his son. He hadn’t found him. It was possible that he had moved on or it had been so long he was nowhere near the city anymore. As the tear had gotten bigger and things became increasingly more unstable, wanting to see him one last time, he had tried again.

Beforehand though, putting his years of detective work to use, he had managed to figure out that the tear was caused by Barry trying to fix something. He had then searched for someone who could see him, so they could tell Barry about it. His first thought, as much as he disliked the man, had been to find Constantine. But ever since villains had taken over the Earth, anyone who had ever fought against crime had gone into hiding. Making them impossible to find; especially for a ghost.

He had been wandering around the cemetery when he had felt himself drawn toward where he first saw Y/N. There had been an aura about her. Something that had told him she could help him and he was definitely a man that went with his gut. So he had. And she had proved him right. She had tracked him down and she had been willing to not only listen, but to find Barry and tell him, no matter how crazy the story sounded.

He hoped she had found him and managed to convince him. And that they had figured out what had happened and were now working hard to stop it. Everything depended on it. Hopefully that pressure wasn’t too much on her. After all he doubted she had any experience in this sort of thing otherwise. Better people had broken under less…

His attention was caught by a blinding light starting to emit from the tear. This was it then. Either they had succeeded and had saved the timeline or they had failed, and he had no way of knowing. He hoped they had. There was also a part of him that hoped that in this new timeline he would meet her again.

He closed his eyes as the light expanded and bathed everything in it.


End file.
